The past month has been pretty hectic, between travel during a few weekends, work, and Sourabh's birthday. We've also been house hunting for about six weeks now, and pending appraisal coming in at the right value, we've gotten a house!!
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| This is our view!!! We have to renovate a few things, but getting a place with a view was worth it. |
Buying a house is obviously a huge life update, but other than that, I've basically just been training and working. I went up to Washington State for a weekend to see my dad perform as the featured soloist at a Skagit Symphony Orchestra (he played the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1 and knocked it out of the park) and, coincidentally, it was the same weekend as Mother's Day, so I got to spend Mother's Day with my family as well. It was so nice!
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| A little rural WA farm action |
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| WA is so green right now! |
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| The perk of window seats -- great views! (That's Mt. Rainier.) |
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| She stayed like that for at least 5 minutes. |
So, let's recap the past month of training... just in time for race day! Yes, I have been bad at the training logs. Instead of logging each individual workout, I'm going to run over some highlight workouts, along with the lowlight of the past month -- a nasty fall.
Best Speed Workout: 6x800m repeats in week 11
I had done 4x800m a few weeks before this workout, and just felt super lousy during it. I ended up disappointed with the splits. This time, I was pretty consistent, and more importantly, I felt really good.
Splits: (1) 3:41 / 159, (2) 3:33 / 160, (3) 3:32 / 160, (4) 3:44 / 160, (5) 3:41 / 158, (6) 3:36 / 161
Best Tempo Workout: 4 miles at tempo pace in week 7 (total of 7 miles)
I ran this on a Friday evening. Temps were in the low 60s, and there was a roughly 10 mph headwind for the first 3.5 miles. After warming up for 2 miles, I turned on some of my favorite speedy songs, turned up the volume, and ran. And I was SO pleased with my tempo paces. Here's hoping I can achieve some of that speedy zen on Sunday!
Tempo Splits (pace / HR): (1) 7:57 / 159, (2) 7:56 / 162, (3) 8:13 / 163, (4) 8:04 / 175
Best Long Run: 12 mile long run around Back Bay and on the San Diego Creek Trail with 6 miles at tempo pace (1:51:40 for 9:18 avg pace, 146 avg HR, ~320 elev gain)
This was one of those runs that makes you nervous when you see it assigned, but gives you so much confidence when it's done. 12 miles with miles 5-7 (miles 8-9 relaxing a bit) and miles 10-11 at tempo pace, with mile 12 faster than tempo pace.
Splits: (1) 9:59, (2) 10:02, (3) 10:04, (4) 10:12, (5) 7:58 (some downhill), (6) 8:15, (7) 8:13, (8) 10:52, (9) 10:49, (10) 8:29, (11) 8:44, (12) 7:58 <-- nasty headwind in miles 10-11
Worst Fall: I don't think I've ever had such a bad fall. Just before mile 10 during what was supposed to be a 13 miler in Washington, I bit it on a compressed gravel sidewalk. It was rough -- my hands were a chewed up mess and my left knee was a throbbing, bloody disaster. My knee is still a bit bruised a month later, but thankfully it didn't completely derail training, although my physical therapist did have Coach Jess adapt things a bit. The big concern was avoiding creation of any new injury due to overuse of a swollen knee, so mileage came down.
Race Weekend
It's looking like it'll be fairly warm (high 60s to low 70s) and humid, which is not ideal, but I know I'm well trained so I'm not going to let the weather psych me out. My left knee has felt a bit wonky on and off, although never when running, so I'm crossing my fingers it'll be fine. Race day will show!
I won't lie, I would love to PR on Sunday. I don't race very often, so every time I race I am trying to do better than previous races. I don't know how likely a PR is, but I am confident that I've had a really strong training cycle that hasn't involved any pain (other than falling), so even if I don't PR this Sunday, I've continued to increase my fitness.
Even better, I've overcome the hamstring issues I faced during every previous training cycle, which is something worth celebrating. Not once did I have to scale back training due to hamstring issues! And most importantly? I've really enjoyed almost every run. Because isn't that, ultimately, what it's about?
And now, for some pretty pictures.
I ran this on a Friday evening. Temps were in the low 60s, and there was a roughly 10 mph headwind for the first 3.5 miles. After warming up for 2 miles, I turned on some of my favorite speedy songs, turned up the volume, and ran. And I was SO pleased with my tempo paces. Here's hoping I can achieve some of that speedy zen on Sunday!
Tempo Splits (pace / HR): (1) 7:57 / 159, (2) 7:56 / 162, (3) 8:13 / 163, (4) 8:04 / 175
Best Long Run: 12 mile long run around Back Bay and on the San Diego Creek Trail with 6 miles at tempo pace (1:51:40 for 9:18 avg pace, 146 avg HR, ~320 elev gain)
This was one of those runs that makes you nervous when you see it assigned, but gives you so much confidence when it's done. 12 miles with miles 5-7 (miles 8-9 relaxing a bit) and miles 10-11 at tempo pace, with mile 12 faster than tempo pace.
Splits: (1) 9:59, (2) 10:02, (3) 10:04, (4) 10:12, (5) 7:58 (some downhill), (6) 8:15, (7) 8:13, (8) 10:52, (9) 10:49, (10) 8:29, (11) 8:44, (12) 7:58 <-- nasty headwind in miles 10-11
Worst Fall: I don't think I've ever had such a bad fall. Just before mile 10 during what was supposed to be a 13 miler in Washington, I bit it on a compressed gravel sidewalk. It was rough -- my hands were a chewed up mess and my left knee was a throbbing, bloody disaster. My knee is still a bit bruised a month later, but thankfully it didn't completely derail training, although my physical therapist did have Coach Jess adapt things a bit. The big concern was avoiding creation of any new injury due to overuse of a swollen knee, so mileage came down.
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| This was before it swelled up (and also before I cleaned up the blood). |
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| Duolingo was eerily on point that day. |
Race Weekend
It's looking like it'll be fairly warm (high 60s to low 70s) and humid, which is not ideal, but I know I'm well trained so I'm not going to let the weather psych me out. My left knee has felt a bit wonky on and off, although never when running, so I'm crossing my fingers it'll be fine. Race day will show!
I won't lie, I would love to PR on Sunday. I don't race very often, so every time I race I am trying to do better than previous races. I don't know how likely a PR is, but I am confident that I've had a really strong training cycle that hasn't involved any pain (other than falling), so even if I don't PR this Sunday, I've continued to increase my fitness.
Even better, I've overcome the hamstring issues I faced during every previous training cycle, which is something worth celebrating. Not once did I have to scale back training due to hamstring issues! And most importantly? I've really enjoyed almost every run. Because isn't that, ultimately, what it's about?
And now, for some pretty pictures.
We discussed the race already, but you totally had the right mindset going in: you had a solid and FUN training cycle, you overcame the hamstring issues, which was not a small feat, and you were totally at peace with whatever was going to happen out there.
ReplyDeleteCongrats again on the home purchase! And I can't wait to see more pics, especially as you guys start personalizing it :)
ReplyDeleteyay for all the pictures always love them! and congrats on a great race - under those conditions you did amazing, I foresee a smashed PR come fall!
ReplyDeleteAnd HOUSE! huge congrats!!!!